Broccoli and cauliflower Soup

A creamy and delicious soup best for a weight loss diet. A soup with the combination of broccoli and cauliflower has a lot of health benefits.

Broccoli is rich in anti-oxidants and a good source of fiber. Cauliflower is rich in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. Both together in a soup makes it a healthy and tasty starter.

You can make this soup either with only broccoli or cauliflower if you like. Naveen and I like the soup a little thin but you can decrease the quantity of water for a thicker soup.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	112		Calories
Fat	2		%
Carbohydrate	20		%
Dietary Fiber	6		%
Sodium	0.7		%
Vitamin A	25		%
Vitamin C	20		%
Calcium	12		%
Iron	8		%
Protein	7.7		Grams
Sugar	3.6		Grams

Ingredients
Broccoli florets	8 to 10
Cauliflower florets	8 to 10
Onion chopped	1
Garlic cloves chopped	5
Olive oil	1 tsp
Butter	1 tsp
Vegetable stock cube (optional)	1
Salt	to taste
Pepper powder	1 tsp
Corn/wheat flour	1 tsp
Water	3-4 cups

Melt the butter in a pan and fry chopped onion till transparent.

Add the cauliflower and broccoli florets and fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add 2 cups of water and bring it to boil.

Add the stock cube to the boiling mixture. Cover the lid and cook for 10 minutes or till the veggies are soft.

Let the mixture cool down.

I use the Mixer to blend so I separate the veggies when letting it cool but if you are using a blender, there is no need to separate the veggies from the cooked water.

Grind/blend the mixture.

In a hot pan, fry the flour for a minute.

Add water to the flour and mix it to make a paste.

In a pot, heat oil and add chopped garlic. Fry for 2 minutes.

Add the blended mixture and mix.

Add the stock and the remaining 2 cups of water.

Add the flour paste and mix well.

Add salt and bring to boil.

Add pepper and boil for 5 minutes.

Once the soup starts looking creamy, remove it from heat and serve hot.

Stuffed Buns

I wanted to try baking a stuffed dish for quite some time and here it is. Instead of making my regular bread, I made some stuffed buns this time. The bread I bake usually lasts for at least 3 days but this one got over in an hour.. hehe :D

I have stuffed these buns with some mushrooms, onion, bell peppers and chillies coated with oil and taco spice powder. You can make your own choice of stuffing.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	129		Calories
Fat	2		%
Carbohydrate	8		%
Dietary Fiber	5		%
Sodium	12		%
Vitamin A	0		%
Vitamin C	0		%
Calcium	1		%
Iron	9		%
Protein	3.6		Grams
Sugar	0.6		Grams

For the dough
Plain flour/wheat flour	2 cups
Jeera/Cumin seeds	1 tsp
Salt	to taste
Instant yeast/ dry yeast	2 tsps
Water	1 cup
Olive oil	2 tsps

For filling
Oil	2 tsps
Onion chopped	1
Mushrooms chopped	10
Green Chillies chopped	4
Taco masala or garam masala	2 tsps
Salt	to taste
Lemon juice	1 tsp

Mix the flour, salt and cumin seeds.

Warm 1/2 cup of water, mix yeast and keep it in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Once the yeast is active, add it to flour, add oil and knead it into a dough.

keep the dough in a warm place for 1 hour so that the dough can rise to double it's size.

Cut the dough into small parts for buns.

Line your baking plate with aluminium foil or baking sheet.

Roll the parts of dough into small balls and place them on the baking dish and keep them in a warm place for another half an hour.

For filling that I prepared, fry the onion, mushrooms, chillies for 3 minutes.

Sprinkle, salt, masala powder and give it a mix. Drizzle the lemon juice over the mixture and let it cool.

Once the filling mixture is cool, we can start preparing for the dough to fill the stuffing.


Preheat the oven for at least 20 minutes.

Press the dough on your hand to spread it just enough to place the filling.

Pull the sides of the dough to cover the dough.

You can also roll the dough with some flour and the fill it with the stuffing.

Once stuffed, roll the dough into a small ball again.

Place the stuffed dough on baking dish. You can brush the top of the dough with either a beaten egg or some olive oil.

Bake the buns for 30 minutes at 180 degrees if using a convection oven. It should be in medium temperature if using a microwave oven cos temperature setting in every microwave oven is different.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup. Also goes well with a hot soup. :)

• You can also stuff some cheese with the veggie filling. 
• You can choose to stuff any filling of your choice.